Valve control means



April 0 1956 F. A. BAUGHAN 2,741,259

VALVE CONTROL MEANS Filed June 3, 1954 V L A IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent VALVE CONTROL MEANS Fred A. Baughan, Chicago, Ill. Application June 3, 1954, Serial No. 434,284 4 Claims. (Cl. 137-405) This invention relates, generally, to oil burners for use on railway cabooses and the like and it has particular relation to the control of automatic shut otf valves there for.

Among the objects of this invention are: To provide improved means for automatically shutting off the supply of fuel to an oil burner in the event that there has been an over supply of fuel to the burner; to position the operating lever across and above the shut off valve; to employ a counterweight in conjunction with the operating lever and the canister mounted thereon for receiving the fuel overflow; and to provide improved means for adjusting the lever mechanism employed in conjunction with the shut 01f valve.

- Other objects of this invention will, in part, be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawing and it comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of this invention, reference can be had to the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a view, in end elevation, of an oil stove in which the present invention is incorporated, the end plate having been broken away in order to show the manner in which the automatic shut ofi valve arranged in accordance with this invention is mounted in conjunction with the oil burner;

Figure 2 is a view, in end elevation, of the automatic shut ofi valve shown in Figure 1, the showing here being at an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the mechanism shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view, in side elevation, of the mechanism shown in Figure 1, the canister being omitted; and

Figure 5 is a detailed sectional view taken generally along the line 5-5 of Figure 2.

Referring now particularly to the drawing it will be observed that the reference character designates, generally, an oil burner which is intended for use on a railway caboose where it is employed for both space heating and cooking purposes. It includes a float valve, shown generally at 11, which is supplied with oil from a suitable fuel tank through a conduit 12 that is connected at 13, Figure 5, to a shut off valve that is illustrated, generally, at 14. Preferably the shut off valve 14 is constructed as disclosed in Patent No. 1,651,034 issued November 29, 1927. The shut off valve 14 has provision at 15 for connection of a conduit from the fuel supply tank (not shown). As there shown the valve 14 includes an inlet port 16 communicating with the fuel supply connection 15 at one end and with a central passageway 17 at the other end having a valve seat 18 with which a valve 19 cooperates. The valve 19 controls the flow of oil to an 'end it is secured 2,741,259 Patented Apr. 10, 1956 outlet port 20 which is in communication with the connection 13 to the conduit 12. The ports 16 and 20 and associated passageways are formed in a valve housing casting 21 which is suitably shaped for its intended purpose.

Within the valve housing casting 21 is a coil compression spring 23 which is arranged to bias the valve 19 to the closed position. A stem 24,; extending through the central passageway 17, is secured to the valve 19 at one end and has a head 25 at the other end which bears against one side of a flexible diaphragm 26. On the other-side of the flexible diaphragm 26 is a plunger 27 which, when depressed, depresses the flexible diaphragm 26 and therewith the stem 24 to open the valve 19against the biasing force of the coil compression spring 23.

Normally the valve 19 is held in theopen position so as to permit the flow of fuel into the float valve 11 and thence to the oil burner (not shown) other than generally at 10. With a view to holding the valve 19 in the open position a valve lever 28, F gures 2, 3 and 4, is pivoted at 29 on an arm 30 which is formed integrally with the valve housing casting 21. The valve lever 28 extends generally vertically and at its upper end it is pivoted at 31 to a link 32 which serves to interconnect it and a stud 33 at the other end. The stud 33, Figure 3, extends transversely through and is pivotally connected to an operating'lever 34 which extends above and across the shut off valve 14. The operating lever 34 is pivoted at 35 on a boss 36 which is integral with the valve housing 21. A1 arm 37 also is pivotally mounted on the boss 36 about the same pivot as the operating; lever 34 and at its other to the stud 33. An adjusting screw 38 is carried by the arm 37 and its lower end is arranged to engage the upper side of the valve housing casting 21 for adjusting the operative position of the operating lever 34 wherein it normally is etfective to hold the valve 19 in the open position.

At one end of the operating lever 34 is a notch 40 for receiving a rivet 41 that extends between a pair of ears 42 which may be secured, as by welding or soldering, to a canister 43. A cross bar 44 between the ears 42 cooperates with the underside of the operating lever 34 to maintain the canister .3 in the generally upright position shown in Figure '2.

At the other end of the operating lever 34 there is adjustably mounted a counterweight 45. Its position along the operating lever 34 is determined by the desired setting of the shut 01f valve 14 and it may be held in the desired position by means of a set screw 46.

The canister 43 is arranged to receive the overflow of oil from the float valve 11 through an overflow pipe 47. It is arranged to receive an overflow of oil from the burner through an overflow pipe 48. Thus, if the'float in the float valve 11 should become stuck or if the burner were turned on but were not lighted, then in either event the excess oil would flow into the canister 43.

In the normal operating position of the operating mechanism for the shut ofi valve 14 as illustrated in Figure 2, a line 49 through the pivots 31 and 35 is slightly above the stud 33 which constitutes the pivotal connection between the link 32 and the lever 34. The latter, then, is in an over center toggle locked position where the valve lever 28 is held generally vertically and the plunger 27 is depressed to hold the valve 19 in the open position. The counterweight 45 is adjusted along the operating lever 34 to a position corresponding to the amount of oil that can be received by the canister 43 without causing the shut off valve 14 to be operated automatically. When this predetermined amount of oil flows into the canister 43, its

weight is sufiicient to overcome the force exerted by the counterweight 45 and the operating lever 34 is rocked about the pivot 35 in a clockwise direction. As soon as the pivot axis through the stud 33 passes the line 49 or moves out of the over center position, the valve lever 28 is permitted to rotate about the pivot 29 sufliciently far to allow the plunger 27 to move outwardly to the position shown in Figure under the influence of the spring 23. Thereupon the valve 19 is closed and further flow of oil to the float valve 11 is prevented.

. In the event that the apparatus should be subjected to a severe shock, such as can occur if the caboose should tip over, then the shut off valve 14 will be closed automatically as the result of the energy imparted to the counterweight 45 and the canister 43 incident to such unusual operating conditions.

Since certain changes can be made in the foregoing construction and different embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter shown in the accompanying drawing and described hereinbefore shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a system for supplying oil to the burner of an oil stove in a railway caboose or the like having an automatic shut off valve connected in the fuel supply line and provided with a plunger for holding the valve open against the closing force of a spring, the combination with said plunger of a valve lever pivoted at one end and operatively engaging said plunger to hold the valve open, an operating lever pivoted intermediate its ends, a link pivotally connected at one end to the other end of said valve lever and at the other end to said operating lever between its pivot and one end thereof, a counterweight on said one end of said operating lever biasing the same to an over center position wherein the pivotal connection between it and said link is on one side of a line joining the pivotal connection between said link and said valve lever and the pivot of said operating lever, the mass of said counterweight being effective when subjected to severe shock, such as may occur when the'caboose ,tips over, to move said operating lever past said over center position to release said plunger and permit the spring to close the valve, and a canister connected to the other end of said operating lever and arranged to receive the overflow of oil supplied to the oil stove whereby when a predetermined quantity of oil is received by said canister the weight of the same is sufficient to overcome said counterweight and move said operating lever from said over center position to a position where said valve lever no longer restrains said plunger and said valve operates to shut ofi further supply of oil to the oil stove.

2. The invention, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the valve lever extends generally vertically and the operating lever extends above and across the shut off valve.

3. The invention, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the counterweight is adjustablealong the one end of the operating lever and the canister is detachably mounted on its other end.

4. The invention, as set forth in claim 2, wherein an arm is positioned between the link and the operating lever and is connected at one end to the pivotal connection therebetween and at the other end to the pivot of the latter, and an adjusting screw is carried by said arm for reacting against the body of the shut off valve to adjust the operative position of said operating lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

